The Music Makers
by Blue-A-Touille
Summary: A Horton Hears A Who! fan fic. Two great friends with one big secret. This story has a lot to tell about music and dancing, Jojo being the musician, Chris being the dancer.
1. Chapter 1

Ah, music. The sweet sounds that tingle our ears with joy. Drums that make you tap your feet, strings that send a power surge through your skin that cause you to fly on your feet in a fashion we know as dance. Some people listen to music. They simply let the feeling flow through them like a kite bellowing in the wind. Some create it. Musicians strum the symphonies that creates a cold sweat of power as they let their hearts take over their hands.

When a musician plays an instrument, it is their way of speaking, their way of expressing their feelings, or perhaps another's. Music is an interpretation, but it is not the only one. As a person listens to such music, they feel suddenly overtaken, and their body movements synchronize with the beat. They let the feeling move through their hands and feet, and they can't stop. This is sometimes referred to as dancing.

A musician and a dancer are not very different people, even if the dancer is a rather tall, elegant, and a gorgeous woman, and the musician is a short, bald man who needs to replace his giant round glasses with contacts, these people will always have one thing in common: passion.

Music has always been an important aspect of one person's life particular, a young girl. This girl had a dream, a dream that has been kept secret for 15 years, all the days of her life. She loved to dance. Ballet, tap, jazz, salsa, anything she could get her ears on, she listened, and interpreted. Her name is Chris Lively, and here's how her story goes.

"Alright everyone! Listen up please!" Mr. Lively called out to his 84 children as they all sat down at the breakfast table. Seventy-four of whom were girls, Chris being one of them. The other ten were boys, and they were the oldest of the Lively family. Chris was the oldest girl in her family.

"I have an announcement everyone!" Mr. Lively called again. "The mayor and his wife invited us over for dinner tonight so I want everyone home no later than 5 'o clock! Are we all clear?"

"Yes!" Everyone shouted at the same time, everyone except Chris that is. She simply nodded her head agreement.

"Can we stay later this time? I wanted to show my news dolls to Holly," asked Sarah, one of the younger girls.

"Only if the McDodds are alright with it," Mrs. Lively answered. "Now everyone finish your breakfast and get ready for school! Jamie, Michelle, Rachel and Rebbecca, you are going to go on some errands with me."

"Mom, do we have to go to the McDodds? They only have one boy, and he isn't really any fun," Marco, the middle boy asked.

"It's your choice boys, but it would be nice if you came along with us," Mr. Lively answered. "Now hurry up for school, you don't want to be late!"

Everybody rushed out of the dining room into their bedrooms to grab their backpacks and books for school. As the stampede flew out the front door of the house, everyone headed their separate ways toward the elementary school, middle school, and high school. Chris was in the 9th grade at Who High, along with her brothers and some of her sisters. As she walked into the building, she did a few i_chassé_/i steps and practiced her i_pas de bourree_/i, but quickly stopped in case of being noticed.

Most ballet moves are French and therefore are hard to pronounce, and hard to spell. But those particular moves are simple steps used in ballet. Anyway, Chris walked the rest of the way to her locker. As she opened it, a note fell to the floor. She bent her knees in i_plie_/i as she picked the note up. She unfolded it and began to read.

i_Did you hear that you guys are coming over for dinner tonight? It's the perfect opportunity to go to the observatory! If you wanna go with me, bring your CD and let me know before you come. Thanks._

_Jojo_/i

She folded the paper back up and slipped it inside her pocket. She closed up her locker and headed for homeroom. As she sat down at her desk in the back of the room, she took her notebook out and wrote a reply note to Jojo McDodd.

i_Of course I heard. Dad made an announcement at breakfast. The question isn't whether I'll go with you or not, it's which CD do you want me to bring?_

_Chris_/i

She ripped the page from the book and folded it into small sections. She put the note in her other pocket and closed up her notebook.

"Okay everyone! Everyone take your seats and quiet down so we can begin!" The teacher, Mr. Davenport called to all the students who were sitting on top of the desks and throwing wads of paper at each other.

After homeroom, Chris walked over to Jojo's locker and slipped the note through one of the small slots at the top. She then headed for her own locker to get the books needed for her next class. As she walked towards her locker, she happened to pass by the music room where students were playing a song from a movie soundtrack that came out just recently. She remembered that song because she owned the Whoatouille soundtrack. She leaned up against the door and listened as the played each note clearly and precise.

After all her morning classes, it was time for lunch. Chris sat down at her usual empty table with her sack lunch. But it wasn't empty anymore after Jojo McDodd sat down next to her with his own sack lunch. Chris held out her fist and he hit it with his. It was their way of saying hi, since neither of them ever spoke.

Chris gave Jojo a look that asked if he had read her reply. He smiled and nodded. Then her face read, "Well?" He handed her a piece of paper that said, "All of them." Chris smiled and nodded as if saying, "Sweet." Then they took out their lunches and ate in that peaceful silence.


	2. Chapter 2

As the school day drew to a close and the final bell rang, Chris Lively and Jojo McDodd headed out of Who High and after a silent goodbye nod, went their separate ways. Chris had almost no friends and never wanted to hang out with her sisters, so she basically followed her brothers where ever they went. But today, she decided to just wait until she went to the McDodds to do anything exciting.

Chris walked through the front door of her house after her not so long walk and was greeted by her mom. Delilah Lively may have had seventy-four girls, but she wasn't happy unless they were all happy and lively, and she was determined to make it so.

"Chrissy! How was school today? Did you do anything new or exciting?" She tried to get a conversation out of her. Chris rolled her eyes and simply shrugged. She hated being called anything besides Chris, even though her full name was Christine.

"Oh come on, something new must have happened! Did you make any friends? I mean new friends? Not that you don't already have friends, but... it never hurts to meet someone new..." she trailed off as she noticed Chris was already out of hearing range and ascending up the staircase. She sighed in disappointment.

"I just don't understand why she never talks to me," she thought to herself.

Chris headed upstairs past all the noisy chattering of her sisters and into the bathroom. She ran some cold water and splashed it on her face. She took a towel off a rack and wiped herself off. As she did, she simply stared at herself in the mirror. She stared at her short, messy reddish-brown hair, at her dark chocolate brown eyes, and at her grayish pale skin.

Her and Jojo looked a lot alike, except for their hair color. But they were about the same height, and her hair wasn't as short as Jojo's but not much longer. They were the same age, they hardly ever spoke, and they were each other's best friend. But they had one other thing in common that wasn't noticeable on the outside: their love for music.

Chris's thoughts were suddenly interrupted as she heard a knock at the door.

"Chris? Can you hurry up? I really gotta go," whined one of her youngest sisters and a twin, Rachel. Chris set the towel down and quickly opened the door to let her in. Rachel quickly ran in and shut the door behind her. From there, Chris headed into her room that she shared with all seventy-three of her sisters. She walked over to her bed and took out a shopping bag from underneath. Inside were at least six or seven music CDs.

"Should I bring all of them? Are we going to have that much time?" She thought to herself. "Well, I guess it couldn't hurt," she took out a multiple CD holder from the bag and opened all of the cases. She took each CD out and put all of them inside the holder, than put the holder inside her pocket. She quickly hid the bag back under her bed and sat down on.

There was a large window on the back wall of the room, perfect for climbing out of onto the roof or onto the tree that stood in front of it. But Chris did neither. She simply rested her arms on the window pane and stared out into Who-ville.

So many times she had stared out that window with her thoughts as her only company, then sometimes an occasional tear would creep in. But then a new thought crept into her head. Not a thought exactly, more like a tune, a song, music. It happened to be the same tune she stopped to listen to at school. She couldn't help but tap her fingers to the beat on the pane.

After a few seconds, she found herself tapping her foot to the beat as well. Then she began to bob her head and move her shoulders around. The movements trailed from her shoulders down to her legs until she couldn't keep it inside any longer. She began dancing all throughout the room as though her feet were as light as a feather. But she was suddenly taken out of the moment by a voice.

"Chris?"

Chris jumped a mile at the sound and immediately stopped what she was doing.

"What'cha doin'?" Charlene, one of the younger girls asked.

Chris responded by simply shrugging. Then walked over to her bed and sat down. But Charlene followed and sat next to her.

"Why don't'cha ever talk? I never see you say nothin'," she asked. Chris shrugged again.

"Are you excited to see Jojo and everybody tonight?" She asked innocently. Chris shrugged, but she was saying, "I guess so."

"Oh, okay." Then Charlene left the room without saying another word.

Chris just sat there, relieved. She was glad that Charlene didn't question what she had just saw. Then she laid down on the bed, staring aimlessly at the high ceiling, thinking.

"I have to be more careful about where I do that stuff. That was way too close," she thought to herself. Not to much later...

"Kids! Be ready to leave in ten minutes!" Mr. Lively called up the stairs to everyone.

"It's time to go already?" Chris thought. She sat up from bed and stretched her arms out. She looked up to the clock and it read ten minutes to five.

"Wow, time flies." She went into the bathroom that was just down the hall, and brushed her hair down a little bit, just so it wasn't so messy. After all, they were going to the mayor's house.


End file.
